When Zhong Jinwei saw it, he immediately called him by name and said, "That person who raised his hand, do you have any ideas or solutions?"
When everyone heard this, they quickly made way for a passage so that Marquis Zhongxing could see the craftsman with his hands raised. Then they all looked at the craftsman curiously, surprised that he could actually do something.
The craftsman who raised his hand was obviously a little excited, his face turned slightly red, and he mustered up his courage and said: "Hou, Lord Hou, in our Ming Dynasty, many farm tools were cast with iron molds. Maybe this artillery can also be cast with iron molds."
When the craftsmen heard this, they ignored the presence of Marquis Zhongxing and the eunuch Zhang Yin, and started talking with a "boom".
There were objections and approvals, mixed with jealousy and envy, and the scene suddenly became chaotic.
When Gu Baichuan, who was beside Zhong Jinwei, saw him, he immediately took two steps forward and shouted loudly: "No noise in front of the Marquis!"
Fan Jun felt that his men were disrespectful and made him look bad. So, he also took a step forward and looked at these craftsmen coldly.
After Gu Baichuan roared like this and saw the palm print eunuch staring at them, the scene immediately fell silent. Even those who wanted to fart tried to hold it in and did not dare to make a sound at this time.
Seeing that the scene had calmed down, Gu Baichuan stood back behind Zhong Jinwei with the handle of the knife in his hand.
Only then did Zhong Jinwei continue: "Don't mess around, let's talk one by one. You, yes, your idea just now was very good. Please tell me your thoughts again."
The craftsman who just initiated the iron mold casting of cannons was a little confused when his colleagues made noise, and then he was yelled at by the Dongchang stall, and he felt a little frightened. Now he saw Zhongxing Hou talking to him in a pleasant manner, and he calmed down. According to his farm tools
Using his experience in iron molds, he explained it to Marquis Zhongxing in detail.
At the beginning, this craftsman came up with this idea just because of Zhong Jinwei's encouragement.
Now in the process of explaining to Zhong Jinwei, the more I speak, the more confident I become, the more I speak, the more fluent I become, and the more I speak, the more confident I become.
While listening, Zhong Jinwei noticed that more and more craftsmen were nodding secretly. Their eyes were staring at the craftsman who was explaining, with envy in their eyes.
When Zhong Jinwei saw this, although he did not understand the professional knowledge of casting, he understood that a new method of casting cannons had been born.
What he didn't expect was that this day would definitely be a memorable day in the history of cannon casting in the Ming Dynasty and could be recorded in the annals of history.
Because from this day on, the Ming Dynasty's cannon-casting technology began to lead the world. Zhong Jinwei never expected that because of his idea and encouragement, Tiefan cannon-casting appeared two hundred and eleven years earlier.
In the original history, it was not until 1841 that Gong Zhenlin invented the iron mold casting method. In Europe, it was more than 20 years later that the Russians invented it.
This actually does not require advanced technology, it is just a concept, just a layer of window paper. Iron mold casting has long existed in China and is one of the three major casting technologies that China has had since ancient times.
Historically, it was invented because it was forced to pierce the window. During the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, the south was in urgent need of a large number of artillery after the Sino-British Opium War, while Tsarist Russia was under pressure after the failure of the Crimean War.
The lessons learned all led to the emergence of iron cannons.
With the skills of skilled craftsmen like the Ming Dynasty Bingzhan Bureau, it is simply a piece of cake to apply it to cannon casting.
Zhong Jinwei immediately asked Fan Jun to set up a research and development team headed by the craftsman just now, and start experiments immediately to strive for results as soon as possible.
Of course, because we don’t know what the final result will be of the iron-moulded cannon, the original clay-moulded cannon casting will still have to be carried out just in case.
Fan Jun was a discerning man. Like Zhong Jinwei, he sensed from the expressions of the craftsmen that he was afraid that he would make a contribution again. Driven by this feeling, he actively began to arrange the matter.
A few days later, at the end of the day, Emperor Chongzhen was finally free. Accompanied by Zhong Jinwei, he took the Chief Minister of the Cabinet Wen Tiren and the Secretary of the Ministry of War Liang Tingdong to the testing site of the Military War Bureau to observe flintlock guns and matchlocks.
Gun comparison drill.
In order to give the new army an intuitive impression of the new ordnance before using it and enhance their self-confidence, Zhong Jinwei, after obtaining the consent of Emperor Chongzhen, asked Gu Baichuan to order all the new army personnel to gather at the exercise ground and line up near the shooting site.
Observe.
Emperor Chongzhen did not make a big show, but came to the military battle station in a light vehicle and simply.
But no matter how easy it is to obey, at least one thing is that the eunuch of the Bingzhan Bureau should kneel down at the door with his men to greet him.
What is surprising is that among the crowd kneeling at the door, Fan Jun, the palm print eunuch, was not seen. This was very strange, but Zhong Jinwei was familiar with this place, so he took Emperor Chongzhen and others to the training ground first.
On the observation platform, I sent people to find Fan Jun quickly. The emperor has already arrived, but you eunuch hasn't arrived yet. Aren't you afraid of losing your head?
The weather was nice, and Emperor Chongzhen was in a good mood. Therefore, although he knew that the eunuch of the palm print had not arrived, he was not angry and watched the new army enter in an orderly manner from the observation platform.
Several big shots, including Emperor Chongzhen, Marquis Zhongxing, the Chief Minister of the Cabinet, and the Minister of War, all held a monocular telescope to observe the new soldiers standing still at close range.
After a while, Emperor Chongzhen noticed that the 500 new troops in the distance were still standing motionless under the scorching sun. He couldn't help but said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, I think the military discipline of this new army is very good!"
Zhong Jinwei smiled after hearing this and said: "The treatment is so good, they all know how to cherish it, but they are afraid that if they don't do well, I will throw them back to the original Fifth Army Camp."
Emperor Chongzhen smiled after hearing this and changed the topic: "I heard that Master Zhong has come up with a new method of casting cannons?"
Zhong Jinwei was not surprised at all why Emperor Chongzhen knew about it. He smiled and replied: "It was the Ming craftsmen who came up with it themselves. I just encouraged it. However, the results of the new cannon-casting method are yet to be tested."
"
After these few days of rest and recovery, Wen Tiren was in good spirits. After listening to Zhong Jinwei's words, he also joked: "One piece of encouragement from Zhongxing Hou is worth a thousand pieces of gold!"
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he was a little embarrassed. Just as he was about to say a few words of humility, Fan Jun, the eunuch in charge of the military affairs bureau, hurried to the observation platform with sweat on his face, knelt down and said: "You deserve to die, your majesty has been waiting for so long.
But I have good news to report to Your Majesty."
Emperor Chongzhen had a good impression of Fan Jun before, and he was able to develop a flintlock gun so quickly. When he met him now, he thought he was a little arrogant, and he was about to lower his face and scold him, but heard Fan Jun's last words.
So, he didn't have a fit, and just asked calmly: "What's the good news?"
Fan Jun raised his head and saw the look on Emperor Chongzhen's face and the expressions of several big men around him staring at him. He was not afraid at all and said something with a smile on his face, which immediately made several big men look surprised.